The term “thermoelectricity” is to mean the mutual influencing of temperature and electricity and their conversion into one another. As thermoelectric generators, thermoelectric modules each with a plurality of thermoelectrically active elements utilise this influencing in order to generate electric energy from waste heat. Said thermoelectric elements, for this purpose, consist of thermoelectric semiconductor materials which convert a temperature difference into a potential difference, i.e. into an electric voltage. In this way, a heat flow can be converted into an electric current. The thermoelectric modules are based on the Seebeck effect. Within a thermoelectric module, P-doped and N-doped thermoelectric elements are interconnected. Usually, a plurality of such thermoelectric modules is interconnected to form a thermoelectric generator, which can generate an electric current from a temperature difference in conjunction with a corresponding heat flow. In this process it is highly important to achieve as high as possible an efficiency in order to convert heat into electric energy as effectively as possible.